Tips for camping with little ones(ie... those that can really make it difficult(;

Let's be honest, kids can make life wonderful, exciting, absolutely more fulfilling, but also...tricky.  Even in normal life they add wipes, diapers, pumps, strollers, car seats... This list is not exhaustive, but I am exhausted thinking about all the other contraptions that come along with these precious bundles.  So let's talk camping; It's messy, and away from modern conveniences so here are few jewels I have gathered on now my 9th year camping with littles.
1.  Let a little dirt happen.  If you are really going camping it's a dirt campsite, where there's a firepit.  Add to that sticky hands from s'mores and forget it.  Dirty is ok!  All will be set right at the end of the trip!  Reference below picture for the dirt ring around his face, and this is at a N'tl monument!  

2.  Find a campsite with showers and laundry!!!  This way you can pack light and at least you'll feel clean at the end of the day!  Also while you do laundry it's an excuse to leave said dirt campsite and read indoors for a bit(;

3.  Do short hikes, or if you choose to ignore that advice, take lots of snack/water breaks on those long hikes.  It just goes better!

4.  Baby wipes, nothing more to say, they are magical!

5.  Menu plan; it saves $  and restaurants are definitely not my favorite environment with kids.  We packed ahead on any dry goods we knew we needed; coffee, oatmeal, bread, pb, and then shopped as we went as well.  Campfires are fun and hot dogs and marshmallows for 1 week out of the year won't hurt anyone.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.   We did instant oatmeal in the mornings + lots of coffee for us, pb&j's and bananas for lunch and rice and beans for dinner.  Not every night, but those are staples.  This made the trip more affordable and not too complicated. Oh, and going to new ice cream shops often is a must!

6.  Research the area and have a plan of where you are going and staying.  This clears up the conversation of, 'Well I thought we were...'  Be on the same page.

7.  Audio books in the car that the entire family will enjoy.  We did 'The Jungle Book' and 'Treasure Island.'

7.   Enjoy everyone!  Cause someday they will be vacationing with someone else and you'll be clean with all the time in the world and you'll miss these days of sticky hands and pb&j's!

Back in the Saddle

How do I blog, where do I start?  That's kind of how I'm feeling about everything right now...We just came back from an amazing vacation, but God is also teaching me a lot right now. I'm in process as the saying goes and excited about the end result.  The process is slightly painful and necessary.  Andy's schedule this summer was more wearing than realized and I ended up resentful in spite of my best efforts to be the supportive, Christian wifey  that is expected.  We all know how the saying goes, 'If mama ain't happy...'  So being alone as a family, in the mountains for 2 weeks was just what the Dr. ordered.  Honestly I didn't have an oz. of desire to come back.  I said things like, 'We could live in the pop-up, all we need is love.'  Andy broke in with reality and now we are 'in process.'  Here are some thoughts/questions that I am sorting thru;

1.  How much is too much hospitality?  

2.  Always speak the truth, but do it in LOVE!!!

3.  A glad heart makes a happy face!

4.  A gentle answer deflects anger.  Approach, approach, approach!

5.  Boundaries are a beautiful thing and when our family(the 6 under this roof) is in a healthy place, everything flows from that!

6.  1 Corinthians 13~  No one else will fight for your family/marriage you have to be deliberate in all things.  I choose to be loyal, loving and kind...repeat....repeat...repeat(=

7.  Create in me a clean heart...  Not create in them a clean heart.  Change starts with me!

I promise the other posts from me this week will be light, but today I turn over a new calendar year and want to be an effective daughter of my Savior.  Oh yeah, and fall is here!!!!

Breaking a Broody Hen?

A few weeks ago I noticed that one of our chickens was not leaving the nesting boxes. When I went to reach for the eggs she puffed up her feathers and made a weird growling sound at me. I was watching throughout the day and realized this wasn't normal behavior. I started doing some research and read that she could be broody which basically means she wants to sit and protect her eggs in hopes of hatching them. The downside for one is that since we don't have a rooster (thank goodness) our eggs will never turn into little baby chicks no matter how long a mamma hen sits on them so they are just wasting their time. They can sit there for 3 weeks or more! That means we would be missing out on her egg production and we would have a nasty chicken to deal with!

In my research I read that in order to break a broody hen you need to address it within the first 2 days you notice that it got all broody on you. I read of various different methods and decided on a "broody breaker". The idea is that you need to cool down her chest (it got warm from sitting all day and night) in hopes of her returning to her normal chicken self. A "broody breaker" is some sort of cage that allows for air circulation, where she is away from the other chickens, and with no nesting boxes.Different websites I read recommended a rabbit cage but I didn't want to spend money on this little experiment, so I looked around for what we had that I could use. 

I came up with a pallet (I've been collecting them for some projects), left over chicken wire from building the coop, and old fence posts (we just redid part of our fence). My parents were visiting so I had my dad help.


Here she is looking all normal

Here she is puffing her feathers up at my dad

I think from the picture you can see how we constructed the "broody breaker". Pretty self explanatory.  Totally Scrappy Love style! 

Yes, I wore gloves to move her. I'm not that much of an animal person and I read they can be pretty nasty if you try to handle them while they are brooding.

There she is. Not to happy about it. 

The first day she got out b/c we didn't put a cover over the top so my husband just put her back in with all the other chickens that night. Well, when I went out the next day she was right back to sitting in the nesting boxes, puffing her feathers up, and squawking at me. I put her in the box, covered it up and left her in there for about 3 days. After that we put back in the coop with the rest of the chickens and she was cured! Yes!

If you have a broody chicken on your hands just google "broody hens" and it will come up with tons of information. I hope this helps someone dealing with their chickens.

Coming Soon to ScrappyLove

I pretty much took a break from making and adding anything new to the Etsy store over the summer, but now that fall is on us, my mind is going back into crafting mode. That always happens to me! I'm excited to start crocheting and sewing again! I currently have orders for 7 Christmas stockings and 4 woman's sized crocheted hats. I better get busy!

These curtains were made so quickly out of scraps to put in the our tree house, but I thought they were cute enough to put in my house. Thinking I'll make up some of these in various styles to add to ScrappyLove

Signs are fun to put up around the house to add to your decor!

Also hoping to add Baby Quilts (one already one in the works), more hats, headbands, baby blankets, burp cloths, stockings, and maybe some stuffed owls!

The Kids of ScrappyLove

Anyone else have a hard time getting a good kids group shot?? These just make me laugh.

Fabric Scraps #2- Alphabet Letters

I made these way back when with the help of my in-laws and husband! This is a GREAT way to use up fabric scraps. They are pretty self explanatory I think. Cut out letters, stack a letter, then batting, then a letter, stitch, and then trim! It takes some time, but if you can get help it is a project we finished in 1 evening.

I finally pulled them out for my kids to play with! We have been working on learning the alphabet for a while now. Hopefully this helps!

I've been busy...

Sorry it has been a while since there has been a post on ScrappyLove! My parents were visiting and then we went to WI to spend a long weekend with the other half of ScrappyLove and all our families.

I have been busy freezing and canning vegetables from our garden and tons of tomatoes a friend gave me. I wanted to share the recipes I used. I'm NOT an expert canner by any means. I was actually very intimated and overwhelmed when I started. Much to my surprise though every single jar I canned, sealed! I just bought a ton of peaches from the farmers market and I'm planning to can/freeze those in the next few days. Other things I froze were shredded zucchini (for zucchini bread), green peppers, green beans, collard greens (not sure for what yet) and kale (for smoothies and soups).

Basically this week, my house was neglected b/c free time was spent trying to get this stuff done!

Here are the websites I used for canning...I just looked through a bunch on line and decided on these for no real reason other than they had easy steps/pictures to follow!

beingfrugalbychoice.blogspot.com (canning diced tomatoes)
lifeingraceblog.com (salsa recipe)
pickyourown.org (referenced this site for freezing the things mentioned above as well as for canning tomato sauce and general canning protocol)

I also made a marinara sauce in the crock pot using a recipe our friends gave us. They have a blog that is basically their favorite recipes. I'm sure they will be putting this marinara sauce recipe up soon. They are really good cooks too by the way! Check out their blog!!!

Anyone else canning/freezing stuff? also, any good recipe that uses collard greens????